Technology enhances windbreak methods

Tanner Sanders, center, prepares to handoff another sapling to be planted with the help of Richard Castillo who follows behind to tamp in the trees and Suzanne Lepke as part of installing a windbreak on property south of Claude.

Texas Forest Service Staff Forester Brian Scott explains how hard it was to prepare land for a windbreak with this plow in drought-toughened soil. The going was so rough, the hitch broke off the plow at one point.

One at a time, at the pace of a leisurely stroll, Derek and Suzanne Lepke and some helpers punch into the plowed soil what will become miles of wind protection and wildlife habitat on the rolling hills south of Claude.

They are planting 7,500 trees in a windbreak that, if laid into one row, would stretch 15 miles.

“I’ve been with the agency 13 years, and this is the largest one I’ve seen,” said Brian Scott, a Texas Forest Service staff forester who consulted on the project.

Derek Lepke is a professional conservationist and owns Hunden Land and Wildlife Services in Claude. He and his wife also take conservation personally.

“We as landowners have the responsibility to be stewards of the land while we have the privilege of paying taxes on it,” Derek Lepke said. “These will slow down the wind when they forget to shut the gate in Dalhart, and it blows over us.”

The work began in January with the plowing of the planting strips. A rugged plow reached 20 inches into earth baked hard by the heat and drought of the past year. The task was so challenging that a half-inch thick steel plate on the plow ripped in two.

“If the ground is so tight it can do that to half-inch steel, what would it do to a tree trying to put out roots,” Derek said.

But the tough job will be essential.

“The thing that makes it work so well is the site preparation. It’s not the trees, it’s not the water, it’s the ripping,” Scott said. “When he ripped it, he was pulling up clods like boulders.”

More trips with plows reduced the soil to normal particles so the planting could proceed in late March, followed by the installation of a drip irrigation system and landscape fabric to control weeds and evaporation.

The project involved using a global positioning system to properly space the rows and choosing the right varieties of trees and spacing to accomplish different goals. Some will protect the Lepke home, other will trap snow far out in the pasture, providing livestock shelter and creating wildlife habitat.

“Windbreaks are kind of thought of as old school, but this is where high tech and old school meet,” Scott said. “Those rows are crazy straight.”

Windbreaks, using trees and shrubs to defend against the elements, are not new to the area. The Civilian Conservation Corps planted many in the 1930s.

And there’s good reason for the practice. Every year, about 535 million tons of West Texas land blows away, according to information from the Texas Forest Service, and one mile of windbreak can cut that by 2,800 tons.

Since 1978, the Forest Service has grown the tree seedlings like those used by the Lepkes on 53 acres at the West Texas Nursery near Idalou. The seedlings are sold in bulk at cost directly to the public and through outlets like local soil and water conservation districts.

The Farm Service Agency and Natural Resource Conservation Service contributed technical assistance and cost sharing.

Derek also has made his contribution to conservation as part of his business, planting almost 40,000 trees for customers in the Panhandle since 2002 to protect feedyards, dairies, calving pastures and homes, he said.

“We’re tree planters, not tree huggers,” he said.

For more information on the Texas Forest Service’s West Texas Nursery, call 806-892-3572 or go to www.txforestservice.tamu.edu.